The legislation to implement offshore processing of asylum seekers has passed the Lower House of Federal Parliament.

It is likely to pass the Senate by tomorrow with the support of the Coalition. Once through, Defence Force personnel will go to Manus Island and Nauru to begin reconnaissance work to reopen centres there.

A marathon debate lasted six hours on Tuesday night and continued today, with more than 40 Coalition MPs lining up to lash the Government for its decision to re-embrace offshore processing.

The vote came after an expert panel, headed by former Defence chief Angus Houston, recommended reopening the centres as part of more than 20 measures to end Australia's asylum seeker stand-off.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen wrapped up the debate by saying it was a significant day.

"It's an important day that this legislation pass because the (government) executive should be able to implement offshore processing," he said.

"We are more than happy with a recommendation that each instrument be laid before the House and the Senate and the House and the Senate be able to pass judgment on those."

Mr Bowen said this was not the end of efforts to deal with people smuggling.

"This is not the end of the efforts to deal with what is the very, very, very, very pernicious trade of people smuggling, which trades on people's lives and gives people the expectation that in return for very significant sums of money they can be brought to Australia for passage," he said.

The Minister called on the bill to be passed through both the Lower House and the Senate as soon as possible.

"The Australian people expect no less and the people smugglers fear nothing more," he said.

It has to go through the Senate. This has always been the sticking point for the Government in the legislation it's previously sought to put up on offshore processing, particularly this legislation it's talking about now it never actually proceeded to a vote.

Instead the Parliament at the end of the last session voted on a bill that was proposed by the independent Rob Oakeshott, which did get through the House of Representatives, but because the Coalition didn't support it and because the Greens didn't support it, it did not get through the Senate.

Now this bill will have the support of the Opposition in the Senate. There is still expected to be some more music-facing for the Government that no doubt Coalition speakers will take the chance to talk to the Government in the same terms it has been in the House.

The Greens will no doubt want their chance to speak as well, but we are expecting that this legislation will be through the Senate by tomorrow, even if it's late tomorrow.

ABC News 24 political editor Lyndal Curtis

'Open-ended exile'

Many in the Coalition hailed the offshore processing bill as a return to Howard government policies, and for Coalition MPs the vote was a chance to say "I told you so".

"It does not bear thinking about, the tragedies that could have been averted and the disasters that could have been prevented, had the Labor Government opposite simply listened," Nationals MP John Cobb said.

"Not necessarily listened to us, the Opposition, simply listened to the facts, because the facts showed the Howard government's border protection policies worked and should never have been removed."

But Liberal MP Judy Moylan described the bill as regressive.

The Government has accepted the panel's recommendation that asylum seekers who arrive by boat should be held for as long as if they had applied through official channels.

Ms Moylan said that unclear timeframe was "open-ended exile".

"Because in a practical sense this may be an entire lifetime," she said.

"At this time the Government is unable to tell any of us how that will be calculated, so conceivably people may remain there for a lifetime."

Greens MP Adam Bandt today failed in a bid to put a 12-month limit on the time the asylum seekers can be held offshore.

Greens leader Christine Milne says the Government is rushing the legislation through without proper scrutiny.

"What we're also going to find is that it's going to land us up in the longer term with huge costs in compensation as people are treated very badly in this chaotic rush to send people out of sight, out of mind into indefinite detention," she said.

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